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ModelCap

Head-to-head comparison

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) (Qwen) and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 9 September 2026

As of 9 September 2026, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#32 vs #75); Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct is 5.5× cheaper per output token ($1.10/1M vs $6.00/1M); Qwen3.8 Max (0902) offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens); and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3.8 Max (0902) if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #32 against #75 (66.6 vs 49.4 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3.8 Max (0902) was listed 3 September 2026, Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct 11 September 2025.

Choose Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $1.10/1M output tokens against $6.00/1M, about 5.5× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.09/1M against $2.00/1M.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct ships open weights while Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 5 listed API providers against 1.

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen3.8 Max (0902) and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
FieldQwen3.8 Max (0902)QwenQwen3 Next 80B A3B InstructQwen
ModelCap Index position#32#75
Index score66.649.4
EvidenceEstimatedMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$2.00$0.09
Output price / 1M tokens$6.00$1.10
Context window1M tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens131K16K
API providers listed15
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, Image, VideoText
First listed3 September 202611 September 2025
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: publisher-corpus-prior over 182 held-out anchors (23%); opens from measured predecessor qwen/qwen3.7-max (78%); shrunk 4.9 toward the measured corpus · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct

Public benchmark boards where Qwen3.8 Max (0902) or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct has a published result
BoardQwen3.8 Max (0902)Qwen3 Next 80B A3B InstructLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14451436–1454Only one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis—21.6%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Qwen3 Next 80B A3B":reasoning=falseOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—7.6%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Qwen3 Next 80B A3B":reasoning=falseOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct: common questions

Is Qwen3.8 Max (0902) better than Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 9 September 2026: #32 against #75. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Qwen3.8 Max (0902) cheaper than Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $1.10/1M against $6.00/1M. Input tokens are $2.00/1M for Qwen3.8 Max (0902) and $0.09/1M for Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $7.00 for Qwen3.8 Max (0902) versus $0.73 for Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct. Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct costs 89.6% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?

Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) or Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Qwen3.8 Max (0902) and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct open-weight models?

Qwen3.8 Max (0902): API only. Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Qwen3.8 Max (0902) and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Qwen3.8 Max (0902) and 5 for Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 9 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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